2015 Ottawa Contact Improv

International Events (*)

(*) Not exactly Canada; but, close enough for improvisational purposes.

2015 July - Earthdance Summer Contact Improv Jam

Earthdance - Plainfield, Massachusetts, USA

The Earthdance
July 4th Contact Improv Jam:
"Come play and experience the richness and beauty of yourself and others."
Heavenly sights, sounds, and smells are all around; summer is on high at Earthdance. Fireworks, forest adventures, and dances of all shapes and sizes bring fun for the whole family during this July 4th Jam. Through the week, we become a radiant community that can support one and all. Revel in the bounty and beauty of connection!
The Earthdance Family Committee
organizes a structured children's program for several hours/day. All
levels of experience welcome.

Contact Ian! Allen about
car pooling to this event from the Ottawa/Montreal area.

What is Contact Improvisation ?

How it all began, 1972-1983: Steve Paxton narrates the beginnings of
Contact Improvisation with Nancy Stark Smith in the short film
Fall After Newton.
"They are adrenalized."

"If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it."
-- Isadora Duncan

Contact Improvisation (CI) is a framework for an improvised duet dance. Since it is essentially a dance of investigation of weight, touch, and communication, it adheres to no single definition or pedagogical certification program. All practitioners ultimately participate in the defining, disseminating, and development of the form through their own practice and discovery.
- Contact Quarterly Magazine

In Contact Improvisation we observe how the body functions in relation to
its internal and external environment. This environment includes the
space in and around ourselves (floor, air, objects, etc.), the forces
of nature (gravity, light, etc.), and the touch and presence of other
living beings nearby. – Ian! D. Allen from an idea by Catherine Lessard

Contact Aliveness: Strengthen your body, open your mind, and fine tune
your ability to listen and respond to each moment. Explore aliveness
through fun, simple activities that involve moving in and out of physical
contact. Contact improvisation is a dance with gravity, momentum, and
everything else that is happening in the moment, including the physical
and energetic contact the dance-partners share. It is a whole-body
practice in the art of non-verbal collaboration and co-creation. Discover
ease, flow and possibility in the dance of relationship. Designed for
all physical abilities - with or without dance experience. Every body
is welcome. -- Tanya Williams

Embrace the Awkward:
"At its origins contact improvisation combined moments of incredible
beauty and flow with moments of incredible awkwardness, clumsiness
and disorientation. As contact has evolved and experienced dancers
have developed incredible capacities for creating flow there has been a
tendency to try to eliminate as many of the awkward moments as possible.
This often leads to running through the gamut of known physical
techniques and making the same choices over and over, again and again.
The freedom contact improvisation offers doesn't come without the
courage to accept what is already taking place in our bodies and in
the space, to use all our known and unknown resources, to embrace the
ever-present making-a-fool quality, and willingly turn even the most
awkward circumstances and risky situations into brilliant creative
moments. The unknown becomes a friend, absurdity is worn well. In
this workshop we seek to reinvigorate the form through embracing all
aspects of the dancing. We will challenge ourselves to safely embrace
the unknown even when it seems clumsy or strange."
– Andrew Harwood and Chris Aiken (promotion for June workshop in France,
March 2014)

What is Contact Improvisation? (9:17)
"Sometimes words are unnecessary."
"A chance to meet."
"Being clear about what I want."
"A learning process."
"To be in connection with people."
"We hardly touch each other in society."
"It's very good."
"A lovely way to transform my restlessness."
"You can be who you are."
"I'm free."
"Sometime I fly; sometimes I lie."
"It's a bit like meditation."
"I fell very alive, refreshed."
"A quality of life that mostly children have."

A "Contact Improvisation Dance Jam" ("Contact Jam") is an open invitation
to a time and place for practicing improvising movement in contact
with others, oneself, and the environment.

"Writing definitions of contact improv [CI] is an artform of its own;
but, not one I [Jim Davis] practice. This definition is here only for
the sake of those who are surfing the Web and stumbled onto this
page. Those of you already doing CI may as well go back:"

"I've never seen a definition of Contact that I really liked. For
some people, it's a post-modern folk dance. For others, it's a
process for finding new choreographic ideas. Some people perform
it, others do it as a practise or discipline. Some people look at
it and see gymnastics, or wrestling, or swing dance. What are the
"mere facts" about it? It's usually done as a duet (but sometimes
solo or in larger groups), it's usually in silence; and it's
improvised. Dancers are as likely to be on the floor as standing,
and sometimes they're flying on someone else's shoulders."
-- Jim Davis
http://earthdance.net/contactdefinition.htm

"A typical CI session begins with a moment of being present
with oneself, during which the participant engages with the floor
and with his or her body. I stretch, I yawn, I pay attention to my
breath, to my mass, to my feelings, to the environment around me.
Then, somewhere nearby, the presence of another takes form, which
I perceive first as a vibration, then as light pressure somewhere
on my body. This is the point of contact, where pressure
fluctuates, changes, and impacts the duet. I let go of balance and
I feel myself fall into fluidity, arcing over my partner to meet
the ground. The liberty I feel comes from responsibility. By
acting slowly, a quiet strength allows me to face any surprises or
emergencies.
The dance has begun."

"Contact improvisation is an athletic yet sensual movement form
involving two or more partners who are playing with physical
contact while rolling, sliding, jumping, catching and carrying
each other. Both dancers are improvising with the swing of gravity
and centrifugal force, thus creating spontaneous, unique movement
dialogues."

"Contact improvisation is a dance with gravity, momentum, and
everything else that is happening in the moment, including the
physical and energetic contact the dance-partners share.
It is a whole-body study in the subtle art of non-verbal
collaboration and co-creation.
Often a meditative practice, improvisation is done without music,
to allow space to tune into what is happening and the
moment-to-moment impulses of the body."
-- Tanya Williams

"Contact Improvisation is a moving massage. It is a dance that fine
tunes your senses and wakes up your ability to listen and respond
to what is happening in the moment. If you could do Aikido, surf,
wrestle and dance at the same time, you would have an idea of what
Contact Improvisation feels like. What makes Contact different
from other dance is that partners are often moving in and out of
physical contact while rolling, spiraling, springing and falling.
They find ways to "enjoy the ride" and improvise while mutually
supporting and following each others movements. The dancing is
unpredictable and inspired by the physical and energetic contact
the partners share."
-- Ernie Adams
http://earthdance.net/contactdefinition.htm

"This form of dance is usually practiced without music, during jams
where each participant is free to move as he or she wishes.
Musicians are welcome, as long as they remain in touch with the
dancers and do not try to impose a mood on the gathering. The
heart of contact improv is listening and silence is its kingdom.
The concepts of sharing, cooperation, and equality are at the core
of the discipline. Those who come to the jam can make
extraordinary discoveries there. Risk, confidence, abandon and
gentleness are found in abundance."
An invitation to let go in an oasis of peace.

Contact Improvisation is a partner dance form with safe touch as the
foundation for connecting with others in a playful intimate way.
Through the physical principles of touch, momentum, and weight
sharing, this movement practice explores the skills of falling,
rolling, counterbalance, lifting using minimal effort, centering
and breathing techniques, and responsiveness to our partners and
surroundings. Together we create a safe space to explore these
skills and let our curiosity and joy lead the dance. * There is a
sweet surrendering that happens when our bodies stay faithful to what
is happening now, and now... and NOW! In my classes participants
learn to recognize and differentiate the subtle impulses in our
choices and our partner's choices. We begin to decipher the cues
that we give and receive which tell us when to lead or follow,
where to touch, how to lift, when to slow down, and when to be
still. Learn to stay in integrity with each choice, never forcing,
never rushing. When Body, Mind, and Spirit are united in their
instinctive wisdom we find our-selves at home in every moment
expressing our true nature.
-- www.contactimprov.com

Discover and practice the science and playground that is Contact
Improvisation. Strengthen your body, open your mind and awaken your
instincts. Explore sensory and physical experiments of shared touch,
weight, gravity and momentum and expand into three-dimensional space,
spontaneous composition, trust and risk. Engage in scores and open dancing
and experience serious play - matching wits and methods, sharing common
ground and sudden miracles - by surrendering to and shaping the dance in
the moment. Be ready for joint creations with formal and open structures
and games, scores and scenarios ranging from the whimsical to poetic,
cooperative to aggressive, simple to complex. (Knee pads are recommended.)
- Collective (gulp), Ottawa